- Changes in clip speed - some clips are sped up, and some slowed down. I found that some of the shots were very short, or too long, so I used this technique to give myself more options with cutaways (a shot of some cars driving by is a little sped up, and a static shop of a lambanana is slowed down as it wasn't long enough for me to use as it was).
- Cropping - in our interview with Pat, the XLR cable to the marantz was visible in the shot. To try and combat this, I cropped each shot so it was less noticeable.
- Crossfades - I used these to ensure a smoother transition between different atmos sounds.
- Transitions (dip to colour, dissolve) - Some parts of the film required a more definite transition, so I employed the "fade to black" technique, showing a change to a new section in the documentary.
- Text - I overlaid text on the title card and interviews to show who was being interviewed.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Editing Techniques
Here is a list (it may not be exhaustive) of the editing techniques I applied during the process and why I chose to do so.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Pro-Res and Starting the Edit
Since we'd filmed in HD, we found we needed to convert the footage into a format Final Cut Pro was compatible with, and that meant PRO-RES. This amazingly converted 25GB of footage into 100GB footage, so it was a good job I had a 1TB hard drive we could work from (this actually made it loads easier because we didn't have to stick to one computer). After the 2 hours it took for the new footage to transfer to the hard drive, I could get started on the first step.
Charlotte had already looked over the footage and picked out the parts she wanted (she was an amazing director, by the way, I might buy her a bottle of wine) so all I had to do was follow her list, and scrub through to find the parts we wanted. After around an hour we had an intro for our documentary completely finished.
On the second day we had a setback: we thought Alice had synced up the sound for the interview we wanted to edit, but it turns out she had yet to start it. As soon as she had finished it was on with the edit, and we managed to create a rough cut of Sophie's interview by the end of the day.
The third day was spent neatening up Sophie's interview, and editing Pat's (from the tourist centre). However just as we finished Pat's, Final Cut crashed and deleted all trace that it had ever existed. I may have said some rude words at this point.
Just to prove Charlotte is an amazing director, by the time I came in the next morning, she had cut together a rough edit of what we had lost the night before (although maybe she was just scared of me getting angry again). I then created a transitional sequence between the introduction and our first interview, setting the scene with cutaways of Liverpool and generally aesthetically pleasing shots. I even cut it in time to the music Grace composed for us, and I'm very pleased with it (although I couldn't have done it without George's beautiful camerawork).
The last thing we did was create transitions between different sections of the film, which was probably the hardest part and where most of the debate ended up being. I think at points we became exasperated with each other but generally I would say we worked well as a group and supported each other. I personally really enjoyed working within the dynamics of this group.
Exporting didn't turn out to be much fun: the first time we ended up with gain on our video, the second time it was in 4:6, etc etc. We reached the best copy on around number 6, which seems daft, I will have to learn more about the export process so I don't fluff it up next time.
Charlotte had already looked over the footage and picked out the parts she wanted (she was an amazing director, by the way, I might buy her a bottle of wine) so all I had to do was follow her list, and scrub through to find the parts we wanted. After around an hour we had an intro for our documentary completely finished.
On the second day we had a setback: we thought Alice had synced up the sound for the interview we wanted to edit, but it turns out she had yet to start it. As soon as she had finished it was on with the edit, and we managed to create a rough cut of Sophie's interview by the end of the day.
The third day was spent neatening up Sophie's interview, and editing Pat's (from the tourist centre). However just as we finished Pat's, Final Cut crashed and deleted all trace that it had ever existed. I may have said some rude words at this point.
Just to prove Charlotte is an amazing director, by the time I came in the next morning, she had cut together a rough edit of what we had lost the night before (although maybe she was just scared of me getting angry again). I then created a transitional sequence between the introduction and our first interview, setting the scene with cutaways of Liverpool and generally aesthetically pleasing shots. I even cut it in time to the music Grace composed for us, and I'm very pleased with it (although I couldn't have done it without George's beautiful camerawork).
The last thing we did was create transitions between different sections of the film, which was probably the hardest part and where most of the debate ended up being. I think at points we became exasperated with each other but generally I would say we worked well as a group and supported each other. I personally really enjoyed working within the dynamics of this group.
Exporting didn't turn out to be much fun: the first time we ended up with gain on our video, the second time it was in 4:6, etc etc. We reached the best copy on around number 6, which seems daft, I will have to learn more about the export process so I don't fluff it up next time.
Taking Inspiration from Recent Documentaries
During this project, I have watched a lot of documentaries in preparation from my editing role. I wanted to discover lots of different features and styles so I would be able to create my own clear style when I came to edit.
My Phone Sex Secrets was a one-off documentary on Channel Four about women who work on sex phone lines. It was composed of mostly interview footage mixed with footage of the women "at work", there wasn't much else to it. I noted this was similar to our documentary - very focused on one specific thing. However it is pretty formal in a way, and I want our documentary to be more whimiscal and fun because of the subject.
Coppers is one of my favourite TV shows at the moment, it's brilliant. It's light-hearted while still being serious, and you really get a feel for the character of each officer they interview. Again, it's composed of interview footage and footage filmed while the cameramen are out with the officers. As it's on Channel Four, it cuts to an ad break every so often, and this means the show is cut up into smaller sections; it has to make a point in a shorter length of time, just like our documentary has to. I think this show was really helpful in teaching me more aspects of documentary structures to help me in editing.
I watched Big Fat Gypsy Weddings the first time it was on TV, but I re-watched a few recently because they popped up on 4oD online (where all students watch their TV because they refuse to pay for a TV license). I find them interesting for the way they portray their subjects; it brings out the snob in me and I look down my nose at them, but after watching a few I do have a newfound respect for the characters. They are enjoyable for the wide variety of shots they use, and the fast pace of the show; it covers a lot in an hour.
While not strictly a documentary, the first half of each episode of The Apprentice has many features a documentary would have - perhaps it is a documentary-gameshow hybrid? A docugame? No that sounds rubbish. In any case, I enjoy watching it for the way they cut an entire day or two into half an hour, I find it very impressive. I also like the way they edit what everyone says to their own ends - it always makes me giggle a bit inside knowing that people's words have been all jumbled, and I know exactly how they did it.
The Devil Inside is on here because it showed me how not to make a documentary. It's bloody terrible. The sound design is all wrong for a solely handheld camera film, to start with. It struck me as a documentary made by somebody who had never actually seen a documentary - a weird, found-footage, docu-drama that really didn't work as a whole film. Parts of it did work very well in the style they chose - but not all of it. I was also very annoyed by the insistent shaky camerawork and vowed to use only tripod shots from that day forth.
My Phone Sex Secrets was a one-off documentary on Channel Four about women who work on sex phone lines. It was composed of mostly interview footage mixed with footage of the women "at work", there wasn't much else to it. I noted this was similar to our documentary - very focused on one specific thing. However it is pretty formal in a way, and I want our documentary to be more whimiscal and fun because of the subject.
Coppers is one of my favourite TV shows at the moment, it's brilliant. It's light-hearted while still being serious, and you really get a feel for the character of each officer they interview. Again, it's composed of interview footage and footage filmed while the cameramen are out with the officers. As it's on Channel Four, it cuts to an ad break every so often, and this means the show is cut up into smaller sections; it has to make a point in a shorter length of time, just like our documentary has to. I think this show was really helpful in teaching me more aspects of documentary structures to help me in editing.
I watched Big Fat Gypsy Weddings the first time it was on TV, but I re-watched a few recently because they popped up on 4oD online (where all students watch their TV because they refuse to pay for a TV license). I find them interesting for the way they portray their subjects; it brings out the snob in me and I look down my nose at them, but after watching a few I do have a newfound respect for the characters. They are enjoyable for the wide variety of shots they use, and the fast pace of the show; it covers a lot in an hour.
While not strictly a documentary, the first half of each episode of The Apprentice has many features a documentary would have - perhaps it is a documentary-gameshow hybrid? A docugame? No that sounds rubbish. In any case, I enjoy watching it for the way they cut an entire day or two into half an hour, I find it very impressive. I also like the way they edit what everyone says to their own ends - it always makes me giggle a bit inside knowing that people's words have been all jumbled, and I know exactly how they did it.
The Devil Inside is on here because it showed me how not to make a documentary. It's bloody terrible. The sound design is all wrong for a solely handheld camera film, to start with. It struck me as a documentary made by somebody who had never actually seen a documentary - a weird, found-footage, docu-drama that really didn't work as a whole film. Parts of it did work very well in the style they chose - but not all of it. I was also very annoyed by the insistent shaky camerawork and vowed to use only tripod shots from that day forth.
Liverpool Visit - A Summary
Instead of writing a detailed description of everything that happened, I'll summarise it with some trusty bullet points.
- We decided to film on George's DSLR because we know the quality will be so much better, but we took an A1 as a backup just in case (we'd booked the equipment a week before to make sure we had what we needed, and we chose the A1 because it was the smallest and lightest).
- The rest of our equipment included two tripods, marantz, rifle mic, tie-clip mic, boom pole, spare XLR lead, spare memory cards, spare batteries, a laptop and an external hard drive. You could say we were prepared for every eventuality.
- On the first day of our trip we concentrated on getting cutaways and atmos sound. We ended up with a lot of footage of the docks, as well as some superlambananas which we actually found by accident.
- The second day was an early start - we hadn't managed to get permission from the health food shop, but we had found a woman in the Tourist Information Centre, willing to be interviewed, who knew all about lambananas. We spent most of the morning filming lambananas and more cutaways, and then we went to our first interview.
- We had a few issues with the interview (personally I don't think there was enough communication between everyone, especially camera and sound), including background noise, missing parts of sound/video recording, bad lighting, and cables visible in shot.
- In our second interview with Sophie Green, the artist, we were much more comfortable in the interview situation. This time we expressly told Sophie to speak to only one member of the crew (so she is looking at one specific point whenever she is on camera), and we had the added bonus of no particular time limit, meaning we had more time to set up our shot.
- Later, we decided to try and interview people off the street, which was harder than we imagined: I think most people thought we were street canvassers. The more people we asked, though, the more confident we got, and the better we became at recognising who was more likely to agree to be interviewed! The camera didn't become such an intimidating problem, as it was so small; but everyone we interviewed was obviously a little freaked out by the microphone on the boom pole!
All in all I think we all learned a lot from the trip. I know it made me realise how much more confident this course has made me, right from my first class in which I had to interview a total stranger.
Liverpool Visit Preparation
After deliberating which aspect of Liverpool culture to explore (including a short-lived idea to scouse women's fashion) we decided to choose the Lambanana sculptures which can be found all over Liverpool.
Grace has already found one artist, who does a lot of work involving Lambananas, who has agreed to be interviewed by us in her studio, and she has the details of others to contact too. Since the sculpture was originally about GM crops, we are also hoping to speak to someone who runs a health food shop (Grace has a contact for this too).
The original artist who created the Lambananas now lives in New York, so we're not able to interview him, unfortunately. However, looking at the contacts we have so far, I am confident we will have enough interview footage to fill a 5-minute documentary.
Grace has already found one artist, who does a lot of work involving Lambananas, who has agreed to be interviewed by us in her studio, and she has the details of others to contact too. Since the sculpture was originally about GM crops, we are also hoping to speak to someone who runs a health food shop (Grace has a contact for this too).
The original artist who created the Lambananas now lives in New York, so we're not able to interview him, unfortunately. However, looking at the contacts we have so far, I am confident we will have enough interview footage to fill a 5-minute documentary.
Seminar Screenings (Documentary)
During our first seminar for this project, we watched 5 documentary films: Making of Dark Days, Skateistan, Eric's Secrets, King of Laughter, and Pockets. I'm going to analyse in detail here the ones which particularly "spoke" to me.
Pockets was my undisputed favourite. The basic concept is to interview strangers in the street about what they have in their pockets, however the visuals are often abstract and don't always match up to the dialogue (for example one woman mentions using a crack pipe every day and the filmmakers have carefully edited this section to avoid disclosing her identity). The film also uses unconventional close-ups - i.e. unusual framing, or focused on the background.
Skateistan was a nicely filmed documentary, however I felt it to be too constructed - as if the filmmakers were glossing over the problems in the war-stricken area by saying a skate school solved every problem the children had. It was almost too optimistic, however the filmic style was very nice; it was very clear (possibly HD) and the colour correction was very recognizable to this particular film.
Making of Dark Days follows a young man making a film about the homeless people who live in New York's disused subway tunnels. It's a good few years old so it's interesting to see how films were made before digital camcorders and editing software. However it's around 45 minutes long so the pacing is much slower than my documentary would have to be, making it less useful than the shorter documentaries we watched.
Pockets was my undisputed favourite. The basic concept is to interview strangers in the street about what they have in their pockets, however the visuals are often abstract and don't always match up to the dialogue (for example one woman mentions using a crack pipe every day and the filmmakers have carefully edited this section to avoid disclosing her identity). The film also uses unconventional close-ups - i.e. unusual framing, or focused on the background.
Skateistan was a nicely filmed documentary, however I felt it to be too constructed - as if the filmmakers were glossing over the problems in the war-stricken area by saying a skate school solved every problem the children had. It was almost too optimistic, however the filmic style was very nice; it was very clear (possibly HD) and the colour correction was very recognizable to this particular film.
Making of Dark Days follows a young man making a film about the homeless people who live in New York's disused subway tunnels. It's a good few years old so it's interesting to see how films were made before digital camcorders and editing software. However it's around 45 minutes long so the pacing is much slower than my documentary would have to be, making it less useful than the shorter documentaries we watched.
Documentary Brief, and Initial Thoughts
For this project I will be working in a group of 5 - similarly to the last project, each group member has a specific role. In my group, the roles are as follows:
- Producer: Grace Walker
- Director: Charlotte Harvey
- Cinematographer: Georgina McLouglin
- Sound Recordist & Editor: Alice Hathaway
- Editor: Me
So far I have been pretty good with editing so I'm comfortable in my role.
In our first session, as a group we talked about the idea for our documentary, and as a general theme we decided we wanted to capture some of Liverpool's culture: it is known as the "capital of culture" in the UK, after all. We spoke about looking for a particular element to focus on and over the next week we posted links to various news stories on our brand new facebook group.
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